Cycling Romania: Sibiu to Sighisoara

Near Sibiu, looking back at Gura Raului.
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We said goodbye to our overpriced Sibiu hotel and set off toward Sighisoara with our not-so-trusty route plan in hand.  None of the towns along our chosen 80 kilometer route were in the LP guide, so I was a little weary.  If the route turned out to be unworkable, it seemed we might have to either hitch a ride again or else beg someone to sleep in their house!  In the end, though, this day turned out to be the easiest riding day yet in Romania.

A fantastic paved road winds its way through the hills from Sibiu northeast to Sighisoara.  Traffic was fairly light during our entire ride.  To make matters even dreamier, the wind was at our back almost all the way to Sighisoara, allowing us to kick it at about 25-30 kilometers an hour for most of the ride.  Woo hoo!  After about 40 kilometers, we stopped at a roadside minimarket-come-cafe for a cold drink, and just happened to meet the town mayor.  We chatted with him over some Red Bull, and he and some other men let us know that the shortcut we had hoped for would not work.  This just meant we'd have to go a little further out of the way to stay on the main paved road, so it wasn´t such bad news.  A few hours later, after passing the town mayor about 20 kilometers down the road (he honked and waved), and passing through some more beautiful mountainside scenery, we glided into Sighisoara.

wandering the streets of the fortress at dusk is romantic and a little eerie

Distillery and winery inside the hilltop fortress, Sighisoara.
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Sighisoara is an extremely cool and beautiful small city.  As a first order of business, though, we sought out the guesthouse we´d chosen.  It turned out to be a wonderful choice.  The owners, Maria and John (because he loves John Lennon, he told us), are warm and friendly folks with whom we had fun chatting over dinners and breakfasts.  Their guesthouse is clean and has large, beautiful rooms.  Best of all, it is located within the walls of the city´s medieval fortress, set up on a hill.  The distinguishment of Sighisoara´s fortress is that it is still a fully functioning part of the town, with houses, churches, restaurants, shops and all of the other usual trappings of a downtown.  It is fantastic.  Its specialness lies in both beauty and vibe.  The winding cobblestone streets darting through tunnels in buildings might be found elsewhere in Europe, but the small trickle of tourists won´t be.  Sighisoara was our favorite city in Romania, and one of our favorite places in Europe.  Wandering the streets of the fortress at dusk is romantic and a little eerie.  We wanted to just hang out for days and days, soaking it all in.  Still, we needed to hit the road so we could do some climbing in the Carpathians before it was time to say goodbye to Romania about 10 days later.